In 1993, John Fien wrote Education for the Environment: Critical Curriculum Theorizing and Environmental Education. Applying a critical perspective to his own ideas, he concluded the book with an examination of three criticisms that deep ecologists would make of critical environmental education. Acknowledging the validity of much of their case, he concluded that the critical curriculum theory of education for the environment proposed in the book was an incomplete one, and that “more theorizing, reflection, action, and more reflection again” would be necessary to develop the ideas more fully than they were. In this paper, which was the Professorial Lecture he presented on 14 May 2003, he returned to this task seeking to broaden the theoretical frameworks of environmental education to encompass deep and wide caring for human and non-human nature.

Interpretive signs are used extensively in tourism and leisure settings to convey important messages and concepts to visitors. While the installation of signs ensures information is widely available and can be repeatedly accessed by large numbers of visitors, their static and inflexible nature means interpretive signs have to be particularly well-designed if they are to interpret topics in a manner that visitors find attractive, interesting and meaningful. This paper provides suggestions for how the six key features of interpretation can be successfully incorporated into signs, and arises from research conducted while developing a website to illustrate “best practice” design of signs and exhibits. The paper concludes with the Interpretive Signs Checklist which consists of a set of criteria against which interpretive signs can be judged. This checklist is designed to be used “in situ”, and provides a systematic, objective tool for designing new signs as well as evaluating and improving existing signage.

A P-12 school in regional Victoria has an environmental theme throughout its Year Four program with classes located in a purpose-built Environmental Centre in a separate location within the school's grounds. We report here on a one-year case study of the grade four thematic integrated curriculum at the school. We reflect on and describe some of the methodological issues that arose during the interviews, direct observations, photography and video-recording. Some of the practical considerations associated with case-study methodology will be discussed. The paper concludes with a summary of emerging substantive issues and a prospective view to further research.

Environmental education is concerned with developing both environmental knowledge and positive attitudes towards the environment. An experiential simulation activity about a native Australian bird was designed to develop both these aspects. The simulation was implemented with nine classes of 10-12 year old children. The children completed a survey before and after the simulation and their teachers reported on their responses. The results showed that the children developed additional knowledge of kookaburras and their survival and that their attitudes towards the environment became more positive. Moreover, the children themselves believed they had increased their knowledge and changed their feelings of responsibility towards the environment as a result of the simulation.

One objective of environmental education is that of educating the young to play an active role as members of civil society. A way of promoting this kind of learning is that of engaging the young in participatory activities in which they can contribute to the conception and planning of a better quality of urban life.

This paper presents an educative experience based on the assumption that in order for the young to be empowered to become responsible citizens, it is important to grant them the role of “young citizens”, who actively contribute to the construction of a new way of thinking about the quality of urban life and where they are engaged in the production of ideas to be realised in the urban environment.

The educational research is framed in the phenomenological-hermeneutic theory of inquiry. The data have been collected from the analysis of the ideas expressed by the participants both in individual written reflections and in conversations in the classroom.

This study sheds light on how a rich legacy of intergenerational, contextual knowing (indigenous environmental knowledge) was successively overlooked and marginalised, or was appropriated and re-orientated in developing scientific institutions, in eastern southern Africa. The Nguni case evidence reviewed, uncovers a somewhat blind appropriation and reorientation of environmental knowledge in the colonial administration and within emerging scientific institutions. It examines how processes such as this served to marginalise indigenous “ways of knowing,” and consequently, “African knowledge systems” in the region. Evidence of colonial oppression is nothing new, but a closer look at some of the institutional processes involved is used to inform the design of the “IK & Today,” materials being developed with educators and communities by researchers working on The National Research Foundation (NRF) programme of the Rhodes University Environmental Educatiuon Unit.

The South Pacific Action Committee for Human Ecology and the Environment (SPACHEE) is a regional environmental Non Government Organisation (NGO) based in Fiji but serving twelve small island nations in the South Pacific region, and involved in both formal and non-formal environmental education. At present its membership base is very limited numerically, regionally and also in terms of its socio-economic make up. This article analyses SPACHEE's current membership and issues base and makes a number of recommendations as to how the organisation might broaden these. Some suggestions are also made as to how SPACHEE might link its work more explicitly to issues of equality and social justice. These suggestions may have implications for other environmental NGOs in larger developing countries in the region which face similar environmental issues, such as loss of rainforest, degradation of coral reefs and mangrove destruction.

Education for Intercultural Understanding seeks a better world. Its principal goal is education for change through addressing social issues with an intercultural perspective arising at the local, national and especially international levels. Underpinning this cross-curricular dimension is education for a sustainable future - a core concern of Environmental Education.

This article will review Australia's engagement with international and intercultural education within formal education with a specific focus on its contribution to a sustainable future. It identifies recent influences that have shaped school policy and practice in this area. Lost opportunities are discussed as well as the scope for future developments, in particular within the socially critical fields of Citizenship Education, Futures Education, Global Education and Anti-racism Education as well as Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development. This paper is an extract from a recent report commissioned by the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Centre for Education for International Understanding (APCEIU).

In recent decades there has been an increase in opportunities for people to view wildlife in tourism settings such as wildlife tours, national parks and captive environments such as zoos. This in turn has provided increasing opportunities to educate people of all ages about the value of wildlife and their habitats. One concept useful for enhancing learning is that of mindfulness. This concept suggests characteristics of interpretation that attract and sustain the focused attention of visitors. Using open-ended descriptions of best wildlife experiences from 790 respondents, this study found that 84% of descriptions contained at least one element consistent with the mindfulness concept. This paper argues that a mindfulness model can be used to understand visitor responses to wildlife tourism and direct the design of experiences that enhance learning and enjoyment.

Despite the bad press surrounding the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the outcomes of the event confirm that WSSD served to reinvigorate global commitments and actions to sustainable development.

The Summit, which took place from 26 August - 4 September 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa, aimed to review progress made towards Sustainable Development over the past 10 years and to work towards commitments to action (UN General Assembly Resolution 55/199). It saw the largest ever gathering of world leaders and over 21,000 participants from 191 government, intergovernmental and non-government organisations, the private sector, academia and the scientific community (IISD, 2002). The mere presence of these stakeholders, willing to engage in the negotiation process, demonstrates that sustainable development is very much alive and relevant.

President Thabo Mbeki opened by characterising the growing gap between North and South as “global apartheid” and highlighting the crises of poverty and ecological degradation. It was clear then that the outcomes of the Summit had to go beyond the Rio 1992 commitments which focused on environmental actions. He called for a practicable and meaningful Johannesburg Plan of Implementation to fulfil the framework of Agenda 21 within the Summit theme of “People, Planet and Prosperity”.

The first review of environmental education in Australia was undertaken by Linke (1980) in 1973/4. The Curriculum Corporation on behalf of the Government Department of the Environment and Heritage undertook a second national review in 2002. The purpose of the review was to provide evidence for the development of future national initiatives in environmental education and as advice for environmental education practioners. Curriculum documents were reviewed to identify the existence of 147 indicators of environmental education within outcomes and objectives of curriculum documents in the compulsory years of schooling through to senior secondary. The similarities between the two reviews are evident in the identification of Science and Social Science in the compulsory years of schooling as having. direct references to environmental education. Geography at the senior secondary level also had significant explicit reference to environmental education. However, there were differences. The 2003 review identified environmental studies as a new secondary level subject that has environmental education objectives. It also identified a broader range of learning areas including Arts, Health and Physical Education, English and Technology which provided opportunities for the development of environmental education.